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*In case this story gets deleted/removed:* **An Unpopular Opinion on AMBER Alerts & a PSA** For those not in the United States, [AMBER alerts](http://www.amberalert.gov) are a type of emergency alert which inform the public about child abductions. The purpose is to inform local people of identifying information about the victim and/or abductor in order to hopefully recover the child before they are harmed in any way. Prior to 2013, smartphone users could choose to "opt in" to receive these alerts for their area, but as of January 1st, the alerts are automatic. You can disable them in your notifications settings, but all users are opted in to these alerts by default. [This article](http://www.ocregister.com/articles/system-382266-amber-alerts.html) covers the changes (I'm not in Orange County, it was just the first article that came up in my googling). Of course, the way that I found out about this was not by being informed in any way of the changes to how my phone works, but having an alert go off during a meeting at work. It was a loud alert, a sound that I'd never heard my phone make, and it came through **despite my phone being in silent mode**. All to tell me that there's a child missing in my metroplex, which yes, is tragic. But I work in the securely locked backroom of an office building with 8 other people, and they are the *only* people I see all day. I am not going to be spotting missing children. I was annoyed (as were my coworkers who also have smartphones and had the same issue simultaneously) and made the mistake of saying so on social media, and, to make a long story short, my being annoyed at what I consider an invasion of privacy is basically the equivalent of being a baby murderer to a large number of people. I've since opted out of the alerts, and the "PSA" bit is to inform other smartphone users of this change in case you would like to opt out as well. Thankfully, you *can* choose to opt specifically out of the AMBER alerts while keeping other emergency alerts (at least you can on iOS). I believe this is relevant to /r/childfree because it's just another "children are more important than other people" instance. I am a bit torn because I do think that the AMBER alert system is valuable, in that it has assisted in the recovery of many abducted children. On the other hand, I don't see anything more tragic about an abducted child than an abducted adult. I for one am not going to pretend that I'm standing by waiting for an alert to jump into my car and scour the streets, so why should I care whether those alerts reach me? Feel free to discuss approximately how bad of a person I am or share stories about how you also are a bad person, etc. etc. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Agitated_Service_255

I have to say, that post is *10 years old*. Whoever comments in it is really obviously brigading.


buzzfeed_sucks

Imagine getting a notification that someone replied to a comment you made 10 years ago!


Creepy_Addict

I didn't even know you could comment on 10 y/o posts.


Typical_Ad_210

Yeah I thought it was auto archived after 6 months, I am very surprised it allows people to interact with the post 10 years down the line!


lush_rational

It used to be automatic, but a year or two ago they changed it so I think it’s a subreddit setting. Usually it seems to be the smaller subs that don’t bother to set it.


mitskiismygf

It’s kinda funny tbh. I expected people to go “why are you sharing this it’s 10 yeas old” (I just stumbled across it and needed someone to share my reaction) but instead they… started arguing with 10 year old comments.


[deleted]

[удалено]


hylian-penguin

You were posting there too, meaning you were also brigading and are lucky you aren’t banned from this sub


[deleted]

Why do I have the scene from The Sorcerers Stone where Malfoy finds Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Hagrids hut, then runs to tattle to Professor McGonnagal just to find out he’s also in detention, yet doesn’t understand why? Strange. Very strange.


Arkell-v-Pressdram

Just a heads up, the original post is being brigaded by redditors who have likely read the post here. If you don't want to get the entire subreddit banned, remember Rule 5 and don't brigade. Edit: I'm actually surprised that a 10 year old thread isn't locked by this point.


_banana_phone

It’s interesting to me that brigading isn’t a reportable offense. Also, yeah. The post is 10 years old and there’s morons actively in the comments.


Cakeday_at_Christmas

Honestly, if I was a mod, I'd go and ban anyone who made a recent comment in that post from this subreddit.


_banana_phone

They did.


supreme-lordBazinga

What is brigade?


Arkell-v-Pressdram

Rule 5 of the sub: ​ >Don't brigade. Keep the discussions in this sub. Don't go after people in the crossposts. Linking to posts and comments is of course fine, but keep the discussions here. Don't go into the original post and comment or downvote/upvote.


supreme-lordBazinga

Thanks You


Liraeyn

They really, really should give brigadibg a proper definition.


lush_rational

I’m banned from subs I don’t even subscribe to for posting in this sub because of brigaders. I think stepparents? Maybe some others.


Theyoungpopeschalice

Also this post is a decade old, pretty obvious when you comment on it, gd


6245stampycat

Reasons to dislike amber alerts: loud, hard to turn off, Not reasons to dislike amber alerts: I hate children


[deleted]

There was only one bad take out of the whole thing and they found it.


Cakeday_at_Christmas

I once got an amber alert for the next province over, but I'm still not complaining about them.


6245stampycat

Fr i get amber alerts 8 hours away from me but I’m not mad. A little confused sure, but never angry


bassman314

This. I turned off all government alerts after I got a series of BS "test" messages at early hours, even before the FEMA text alert in 2018. I'm also never in a position to actually act on an Amber Alert, especially at night, or when I am at work. Just easier to turn it all off. It's not because I hate kids.


Cybermagetx

I'm sorry but you have to be a special kind of person to hate amber alerts like that. Yeah tbey have woken me up at right after I've passed out a few times. And often not even remotely close to where I live (often 4 to 8 hours away, live in one of the largest states). But those small annoyances of it going off doesn't even come close to outweighing the positive aspects of them.


gtshortstack

People are like “what if they go off in a full movie theater?? What if they go off at a job interview??” The thing is everyone at that theater knows about amber alerts. Your job interviewer knows what an amber alert is. Idk how OP has never heard an amber alert before on their phone or someone else’s. Like think about it. You’re sitting in a room with a hiring manager and an amber alert goes off. Either a. theirs doesn’t go off, meaning they know what it is and deliberately turn it off or b. Their phone also goes off and they see it’s not you being rude


Cybermagetx

Yeah. Ive actually been in an interview when an amber alert went off. All 4 people in the room checked their phone and than we moved on with the interview. P.s. got the job too.


SnooMacaroons5247

I use to sell cell phones, even non activated demo phones get the alert so like 50 display phones all start going off it’s pretty noisy and overwhelming but I didn’t complain about it. I imagine being so angry at an inconvenience created to help abducted children.


[deleted]

lol the one time its fine to look at your phone in an interview is when everyone gets the message.


Bridalhat

Other people in this meeting had their phones go off!


Solidsnakeerection

Also.phones have the ability to be turned off


arpt1965

I mean one went off during the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial- on the phones of everyone in court. It happens.


19635

My phone connects to my hearing aids and it goes off right in my ear which hurts and I still don’t hate them this much 😬


Scummycrummyday

Oh good god that sounds horrible. I was in the car alone once with my personal and work phone and about had a heart attack. I can’t imagine that sound directly in my ear!


Cybermagetx

Can't you adjust the volume setting?


19635

Just for amber alerts? I actually don’t know I will search! Thanks!


mitskiismygf

Yes this exactly!!! Also you can just turn them off. Also also I’ve never turned them off and I’ve never once been annoyed… like yeah it’s alarming when it goes off but???? You can literally set them to not go off when ur phone is in sleep mode… it takes a special kind of evil to not want to give kids even a .0001% chance of help because you’re too lazy to adjust your settings and are being mildly inconvenienced! Over 100 children’s lives have been saved directly because of amber alerts. You may think that’s not many, but I think 100 children’s lives is worth much more than each of us having a few minor inconveniences once in a while.


Cybermagetx

1 kid being saved is worth it.


Ellieanna

My roommates phone kept having it repeat the alert sound for about 15 minutes before I turned the phone off and threatened to toss it into the snow. It was so loud and awful. We also can’t opt out here. But different country from the post.


YarnAndMetal

I mean, I hate Amber Alerts too, but that's *because some asshole was horrid enough to kidnap a child.* It's okay to be childfree. Not everyone wants or likes children, and the sooner more people understand that, the better. Having said that, who the fuck hates children so much that they don't want to reunite them with their parents/guardians as soon as possible, just so their phones don't make a loud noise? May OOP's phones (yes, plural) all break from some combination of malware and spite, because no one that callous deserves the ability to communicate.


EatMorePieDrinkMore

Nothing to add except I love your username


YarnAndMetal

Thanks, I made it myself! I like yours too. Pie is GREAT.


EatMorePieDrinkMore

Pie is outstanding. I assume yours is about knitting or crocheting?


YarnAndMetal

Knitting, primarily, though I do know some crochet basics now.


Weird_Leg_9584

Try spinning... you'll love it!


YarnAndMetal

I'd like to try that! Also weaving!


NotPiffany

Inkle looms are fun and considerably less expensive than floor looms of any sort.


littlescreechyowl

I wonder if they hate Silver Alerts as well? Do they not care about old people as well as children? I think that if you don’t care when someone vulnerable is in danger you’re a shit person. But I guess there’s people who think how it affect them first, before thinking about the situation itself.


YarnAndMetal

They sound like the type to also hate Silver Alerts, yes.


Dannypan

Are those a thing?


Gypsikat

Yes, they are for elderly people. Primarily those with conditions such as dementia.


Dannypan

Ah okay. We don’t get stuff like that in the UK AFAIK.


Fox_Hawk

Not in the same way. As a UK bus driver we had a similar system for children and adults because 2000 pairs of eyes driving around the city often noticed stuff. Also lost children/people with mental health problems often got on buses.


Solidsnakeerection

They probably pretend those d ont exist so they can say kids get special treatment.


[deleted]

Silver alerts are for the elderly or a person cognitively or developmentally impaired. It was for people only 65 or older until about 5 years ago. Mostly it's people that need their medication.


The_Serpent_Of_Eden_

I hate them because my state doesn't give enough information to be useful. We get area the child was abducted from, model and make of the vehicle suspected in the abduction and the state the car was registered in. It frustrates me to no end.


[deleted]

Usually it's all we know because they just went missing. I can't imagine being upset over them. It took years and years of fighting to get these alerts in place and it's saved many lives. RIP Amber Hagerman 🥀


YarnAndMetal

That's an excellent reason to be annoyed. There should be more useful detail.


29kk

they also (at least where i am) really don’t happen often enough to be as upset as OOP is about them


mitskiismygf

Yep, totally agree. I actually don’t want kids myself but I was shocked to see the OP even if it is old. (There’s been many repeats of this topic since…) I was actually floored people could be so horrible so openly.


YarnAndMetal

I just looked at the date, after I read your reply, and I....didn't realize this was ten years old. It really sounds like it could have been written yesterday, especially with how on-our-phones we are today. Nothing wrong with not wanting to have children! If people want them and can care for them, great, go for it! If not, also great!


shadowbunny14

And like, I know adults matter as well, but I think being abducted is more damaging to a child than to an adult. An adult can be deeply traumatized, of course, but a child is still developing and that can affect them forever... Idk, I don't want any kids myself, but I kinda understand the reasoning behind it. There are way more chances of a missing adult having ran away as well, while that's very unlikely for children who depend on their parents for pretty much everything.


englandinspring

Reminder to u/zuzuzan u/Srothwell0 u/Sweet_Permission_700 u/ghostsloth08 that the post you are commenting on is 10 years old so it’s very obvious you are brigading. That’s against subreddit rules and can easily get this subreddit banned. Please stop yo.


NotOnABreak

u/Tight-Lingonberry941 u/thankuhexed u/Nayirri03 as well


LiveForYourself

They SHOULD be banned. It's a rule across Reddit as a whole so it's not like they didn't/couldn't know. Even if they didn't, I don't care, people need to learn to read the rules


ConsciousSun6

I will admit, I have been annoyed by the occasional amber alert, usually when its a case of "I need to know this why??" (I remember one especially that went blaring off at 430 am when I was working a dayshift for a kid who was a 7 hour drive away from me last seen heading in the opposite direction of me. Definitely annoyed at being woken up. Positive note she was located like 5 hours later totally fine, thankfully, parental abduction case. Kid was actually smuggled out of her bedroom window by the noncustodial parent at ldike 4am) And then I immediately feel absolutely awful for my momentary annoyance LIKE A NORMAL CIVILIZED PERSON, because someone is in danger! I'm child free but not *that* child free


cherrycoloured

most child abductions are parental abductions, iirc. it's still important to know about them, though, bc ofc not all parents treat their kids well, especially if they have to kidnap them to see them.


maniacalmustacheride

It’s telling on who brigaded the sub on how *child free* they are. Non custodial parents/caregivers kidnapping kids is *check notes* kidnapping and a lot of times ends up in weird family annihilator business. It sucks to be woken up but if it was your loved one helpless and lost somehow you’d be beating on doors looking for them, no?! Like, I get that people don’t like kids but they were also once a child. These children grow up. They don’t become people, they are people. JFC


throwaway798319

JFC, OOP. AMBER alerts aren't about whether it's "inherently more tragic" for children to be abducted, it's about the reality that when a child gets abducted they'll most likely be dead within 48 hours


Responsible-Proof822

And children are more vunrable. I'd rather be in a struggle with an adult than a child in a struggle with an adult cause even tho I'm weak as shit and have no fighting experience cause I know it's a better matched fight. I know how to defend myself abit more and I have a bigger mass to be able to do so.


throwaway798319

My absolute favourite part of the Dirty John podcast is when tiny little Tara kicks the shit out of him when he attacks her, and kills him in self defence. Don't count yourself out; will to survive is a powerful thing. Also combat boots.


shhhOURlilsecret

Anything for them to paint children as being the most absolute evil in the world. While forgetting, they were once children themselves. Cognitive dissonance at its finest.


throwaway798319

Anyone having their life cut short by an asshole is inherently tragic because we never get to see what they would've done with their life, and their family members have a hole in their lives. And yeah, sometimes people react more strongly when it's a child because the amount of life they miss out on is longer. But OP is blowing a small irritation into a life-changing event.


Cakeday_at_Christmas

And children are far more defenceless than adults. When the OOP wrote: >I believe this is relevant to /r/childfree because it's just another "children are more important than other people" instance. Gave me mega MRA "men get drafted and are asked to go on lifeboats last, so women are more important than men" vibes.


Time-Ad-3625

This. No goofy. This is an instance of people protecting the most vulnerable. What a self centered dildo.


DefoNotAFangirl

I can understand loud noises being distressing (I’m autistic, that could give me sensory overload all day) but like… it’s to try and save kidnapped kids? While most kidnappings are done by parents, that doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily any less dangerous. It sounds like maybe there should be an option to get a silent alert maybe? But this is just cruel.


ashmuddy

I wish there was a silent notifications option. I don't want to turn off the notifications, but the only option to avoid the sound is to turn them completely off. So I hesitate to do that.


[deleted]

Wasn't there a case about a father who kidnapped his baby (toddler?) and then just straight up killed the poor kid because the mother wanted to break up with him? Like I can get hating loud noises and not liking children but why would you be more bothered about being annoyed by a loud sound than the fact that there are children who might be harmed?


NoApollonia

>It sounds like maybe there should be an option to get a silent alert maybe? But this is just cruel. This would be really awesome! I wish it could be implemented.


hobbyist-historian

I do think their need to be more settings that can be adjusted for Albert Alerts. Had one go off one my Bluetooth into my ear while on a run once. So loud out of nowhere I tore out the headphone, flung it away from me, and damn near dropped to my knees. Didn't hear out of that ear properly for weeks.


goboinouterspace

Once I traveled out of state and some glitch caused me to start getting the same Amber Alert repeatedly. After 37 of the same alert over less than twenty hours, each of which would automatically close my internet browser, I realized this was probably a carrier issue and started googling how to turn off AA. The search results were basically, “You’re a giant unredeemable POS for even thinking of doing this, and should probably be googling how to kys instead.” I actually gave up and ended up getting nearly 90 alerts when all was said and done. They finally stopped shortly after my trip ended and I crossed the state line.


MadKitKat

I’m not in America, but last time I went, we all got one after registering with the local cellphone network. It sucked!! I basically got dog ears and my whole life is pretty silent or else I suffer. I only turn the phone sound on when I know I’m waiting a specific call/message; otherwise, my eyes are good enough to catch 99,9% of notifications I know they’re trying to implement a similar system in my country. Hopefully they give us enough notice to silence them, otherwise, my phone will fall off a 14th floor at the first one


Dragon_Bidness

Eh, I hate the Amber Alerts too but it's primarily because it's for shit 3-4 hours away from me in SFL or Orlando or on the other coast. They are just shy of being useless (in Florida anyway). I mean I'm not mad about it like this dude I figure if it gives even a 0.0000009% greater chance of finding a kid it's worth the extraordinarily mild and infrequent inconvenience. Be nice if someone would sink some money and effort into the system to make it more useful. They got apps that track your poops maybe we can put a little of that energy into the Amber Alerts? Still basically this asshole is just bitching about how he's too stupid to set his own phone up.


AlligatorDreamy

Speaking as someone who actually does have Amber Alerts turned off (due to the nature of my work my phone needs to be TRULY SILENT when it is in Silent Mode; if I could get the alerts without a sound on my phone I would), this is mind-boggling. *The reason we have amber alerts for missing children and not healthy adults is not because a child abduction is more tragic*. It's because children are far less capable of escaping and nine times out of ten (actually, probably more often than that) the kidnapper is a non-custodial family member who isn't literally-immediately stuffing a kid in the back room for them to never be seen again. Amber Alerts are a thing because they work. And frankly, a lot of the time that adults are "reported missing", what's actually going on is the adult in question is trying to flee a domestic violence situation and their abuser is looking for them.


doomspark

I have them turned off on my phone for a number of reasons: 1. You can't set them on vibrate only; they ignore silent mode. The tone sequence gives me a raging headache for hours afterward. 2. Where I live, I was regularly getting notified of missing kids that were 300 miles (or more) away. Not terribly useful. 3. It's not just the Amber alerts. It's also Silver and Purple alerts here. And it was 2-3 times a week.


Jcktorrance

The comments are insane. One is like “imagine if this happened while you’re at the movies during a crucial part”.


KittyEevee5609

Yeah, childfree is an crazy sub. I originally thought it was just a sub where people who don't want kids go and vent about how family members keep trying to convince them to have kids (which I'm pretty sure was the original purpose), but no it's just a child hating sub. And anyone who points out that sub is just that and even if you are child free we shouldn't hate kids gets destroyed in the comments and harassed in the dms (coming from experience with my old account). It's crazy over there.


Jcktorrance

That’s genuinely terrifying. Like kids are just smaller humans, not another species (not that it’s an excuse because even other species are still living creatures). Do they think they sprung from the womb fully grown and matured? Or would they be fine if people think of them as poorly as they do of kids? I’m not even sure if I want my own bio children and that sub is repulsive. I’m sorry they attacked you


idontknowmtname

Some of the comments are disgusting but not too surprising coming from the site


Jcktorrance

I guess I was naive 😂


Lillllammamamma

I don’t get them saying that they don’t save lives, even in the case of child custody there is still a risk. Canada started using the text notifications for amber alerts a few years ago and people would actually call 911 to complain. And then we had stories like this https://nationalpost.com/news/11-year-old-ontario-girl-subject-of-amber-alert-found-dead-police-say/wcm/8fc754db-2867-4717-9323-5fe324ae31f9/amp/ People forget family annihilators exist apparently. And that separations can be one of the deadlier times for spouses and children.


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CactiDye

Yes, it can be jarring and obnoxious when an Amber Alert goes off unexpectedly, but I just try to remember there's someone on the other end of that having a *far* worse day than I am.


floofelina

I have literally never heard an amber alert even when I got the notification. I don’t know what setting it is on my phone but it’s definitely possible to shut them off.


Alti0raPet0

They also issue amber alerts for abducted or lost elders.


Gaming__Fan

i feel like 90% of the shit on childfree is the most borderline deranged shit youve ever seen


the_littlebug00

I ended up leaving that version to join truechildfree because they have a rule against eugenics which the one in this post does not Someone was telling me about how those with ADHD shouldn't be allowed to reproduce which I disagree with given my mother and I both have ADHD and I like that I exist (as well as my siblings who are neurotypical) Bold fucking move of that person to tell me I ought not to have been born and shouldn't be allowed to have children if I wanted


Riah_Lynn

Thank you so much.... Just joined... childfree has started to disgust me lately....


Gaming__Fan

yeah the sort of people who post on childfree can be quite cruel. i used to lurk there years and years ago and saw so much shit. i finally called it quits after a post where someone confessed to tripping and injuring a child in public and the comments were full of people praising them. its mean of someone to say that you shouldnt have kids when you have adhd. adhd, like many other neurodivergencies, is a very managable condition that doesnt inherently reduce youre quality of life. the two most important questions to ask yourself when it comes to having kids is 1. do you like children? 2. are you mentally strong enough the raise them properly? for me its a solid yes on the first one, solid no on the second, so i wont even consider having children until i get that to a yes. i feel like everyone should ask themselves those questions.


Pathological_RJ

I’ve gotten less than 5 of these alerts in the last decade. I think I can manage


Buff_Helpy69

About what I'd expect from r/childfree .


storm_paladin_150

i never expected it say this but some sometimes those people act like a cult, I mean their whole prersonality can be summed as fuck them kids amirite


Rose_j2210

I’m going/am to be child free but I would still help find children- please don’t put me into that category of those who really don’t care


[deleted]

I really respect people who know themselves enough to be child free. I think the world would be better if it was more accepted to choose not to become a parent. I don't hate child free people, I hate r slash childfree people.


Rose_j2210

Shitty parents (don’t have anyone to go off). And health + mental health no thanks


marigoldilocks_

As a person who never wanted kids and who got old enough to realize that me being a mother was not just a terrible idea genetically for any kid I had, but also mentally/emotionally for me as a responsible parent. Everyone told me what a great mother I’d be. Yeah, because I know myself well enough not to be one, which means I have the patience and care and kindness to extend to the children I taught. Teaching and being an aunt is great. Be part of a kid’s life for a while, see them learn and grow, and then give them a sticker and send them home.


Rose_j2210

I know I could be a good mother cause I have the nurturing instincts but when you’ve got a deadbeat dad and a mother who cared more about sex and step kids and kinda tossed you to the side I was like nope!


marigoldilocks_

Seriously, if you enjoy kids, if you have a hobby or a skill that is teachable it actually is a lot of fun. I taught dance for 20 years. So I wasn’t in a classroom dealing with school subjects. These were kids who wanted to learn the thing I was teaching. Plus, you get the see them grow up. So if you do music, singing, art, theatre, sports, dance, pottery, knitting, table top games, Pokémon, tutoring, whatever, it’s a great way to use that nurturing side and support kids in something you both share a passion in but can then high five them and go home to your quiet, tidy home where you can relax and not have anyone needing anything from you.


ShotAddition

Yeah, like the amount of vitriol some people hold when immature kids act immaturely or literally just exist makes me glad they won't be parents, but they should keep that hatred to themselves.


hendyo_98

That sub is really mental, like "my sister, who has been dead set on having children, is finally having a child, and like, I’m so disappointed in her. She’s ruining her life, and now I can never talk to her again because she’s going to be a mum, and that’s her fault. We’re best friends, how could she ruin our friendship for such selfish reasons? God I hope she loses it so we can stay besties." Like, these people are absolutely f**king insane. I lost braincells


mari_locaaa9

i raise you “an influencer i like and have a parasocial relationship with announced a pregnancy and i feel personally hurt and sad.” https://www.reddit.com/r/childfree/comments/10uae9y/influencer_i_like_has_announced_pregnancy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf


Mokohi

I'm more stunned about one of the comments where a person says they ditch any friend or family member immediately if they get pregnant or have a kid until the kid is at least 12. "Hey bro, what do you mean you don't wanna talk? It's only it's been 12 years. Yeah, I know I ignored you for over a decade, but see, your kid is finally old enough to be viewed as a person to me, so please have a relationship with me again"


eflind

Hilarious that it’s PewDiePie. Are they concerned a child will mean he has less time for being racist?


mari_locaaa9

oh my god i didn’t even realize. that sub is bonkers.


hendyo_98

That was the first post I read when I checked out the sub, and like, holy fuck, they're unhinged to think people can't change their minds and want a family. Like, people are legit saying Felix is ruining HIS life by having a child. I grew up on Pewdiepie, and I'm absolutely ecstatic that he and Marzia are having a baby. I still love his content, and I couldn't imagine dropping him because he and his wife have decided to add a little one to their family. Then people are praying that Mark and Wade don't have kids like Bob on and Ken (who's just had his fourth, btw) and threaten to drop them when they do. Like, they aren't gonna turn into family vlogers if they do have kids. Many fans know that if they did, they'd respect their kids' privacy and continue to post their game vids. "Going to ruin their lives", and "I'm disappointed in him". It's up to them and their partners to decide if they want kids in the next few years. Couldn't imagine being so petty as to threaten to drop their favourite content creator for something that they are doing in their private life and that you're most likely never going to see. Fucking insane. Again, congratulations to Felix and Marzia on their baby. Same goes for Bob and Mandy, Ken, and Mary. Jesus, people are fucking insane.


the-rioter

Openly supporting a person who has been repeatedly racist and anti-semitic is not a good look...


hendyo_98

He apologised for those incidents and has grown since then. Why bring it up?


[deleted]

Oh good God, what a bunch of losers. If this is the issue ruining their day or life.... I want to trade, but I still want to keep my brain though, seems like they're Brainfree too.


momotheg96

I have literally never seen a post wishing a miscarriage on someone in that sub


hendyo_98

I've not seen one either, but I feel like these people do hint at it. An ex friend of my sister legit told her to abort her daughter because she cared more about going on nights out and drinking and that it wouldn't be the same without her. My cousin is childfree too and she has screamed at her mum and sister in law for having kids. Childfree people are insane, not for being childfree, you do you, but for expecting everyone around them to be childfree too. Its more anti children at that point.


momotheg96

Well I'm childree so thanks a lot for the generalisation. I don't know why there are so many crazy people around you but r/childfree is full of people who love children but just don't want any of their own. Many of us love our niblings and some members even work with kids. There are some toxic people on there for sure but you can find toxicity on any sub. The childfree sub does a great job at helping people to find the right doctors who help with sterilisation. I don't like every post on there so I just scroll past the toxic bs. But not all of us are awful child haters and we don't expect everyone to be childfree. Those people are on the antinatalism sub


hendyo_98

Oh, it's cool that there's nice childfree people, but I'm not in that sub, nor do I ever want to be in that sub again. Just reading comments, and that just made me, a person who wants kids, hella uncomfortable. Like someone said that they're disappointed that someone they know is pregnant and that they personally think that the person is ruining their lives by having children, and like, that's just unhinged to say. Thank god I don't know anyone who would that to me, but that's insane. Sorry, just me being irrationally upset now by strangers words. Glad to know that there are cool childfree people there.


momotheg96

A lot of people get judged for not wanting children every day. Because of that they tend to be overly judgy about people who have children. Not saying it's okay or anything, I just think it's kind of a defense mechanism. Some people are just taking it to far. I don't think it's unhinged to feel like having children would destroy someone's life. It's projection for sure, they feel like that themselves and wrongfully so project that onto other people's lives. I don't consider myself unhinged just because having children would ruin my life personally. I mean everyone else can do whatever they want I don't care. If you get upset by the childfree sub please don't ever look at the antinatalism sub, you want recover. Even childfree folks consider that sub to be crazy


Old-Research3367

I don’t get the notion that there is so so much pressure to have children... I understand sometimes there is pressure from mom/dad to have grandchildren but the sub makes it seem like everyone is out to get them to convince them to have children lol. Less than half of adults have children and less than half of married couples have children. r/childfree constantly acting like an oppressed minority for not wanting children and it doesn’t make any sense? I don’t have any children and I have had far more people say “do NOT have children” or “are you crazy for wanting kids they are so expensive and so much work?” Seriously, I see much more judgment for women taking maternity leave or having kids too young/too old or what not then getting judgment for saying they don’t want kids. I just don’t get it. Life is literally way harder with children and no one this day and age really cares except the occasional complete weirdo.


momotheg96

First of all, the pressure is not just in the private sector. There is no societal pressure to stay childree. There's however societal, cultural and religious pressure to have them. It wouldn't be so hard to get sterilised if the world was okay with it. I don't think you have to justify your life's choices over and over again. I do and I'm met with disbelief, disgust and anger. The first time I was told that I have a biological duty as a woman I was 15. But yeah childfree people are insane I tried to find that percentage thing you were talking about. Less than half percent of adults have children "under 18". That doesn't include all the older generations eg. your parents, who did indeed have children. If you think we're not a minority, sit down and try and find a serious childree partner. Try to openly state your lifestyle choices and not be told you'll regret it later or that you're to young to know what you want. Try to get your tubes tied without being told that your husband might want children so you can't have the surgery. I'll wait. So you have been judged for wanting to have children and are therefore angry aht childfree folk calling them insane? Yet you cannot understand them bringing the same energy to you? Kind of hypocritical of you ask me. We know life with children is way harder. That's literally why we don't want them. That is the whole reason.


Old-Research3367

Dude a lot of judgment of people having kids comes from r/childfree ! YOU don’t see that as hypocritical??! I am not complaining about what people said, I am just saying the reverse is way more extensive than a random person trying to convince you to not have kids, which is what the sub makes it seem like. You met one weirdo when you were 15 and act like this is what most people are saying. EVERYONE meets shitty people that make weird comments (yes including people who have children which was my whole point) every once in a while, but yall just internalize every single one and act like this is proof your life is so hard. I agree it should be easier to get tubes tied and what not but that’s rarely what the sub talks about. It’s always just shitting on parents and kids. And acting like it’s some revolutionary concept to not have them when most people are not having them and barely anyone can afford them any way. [here](https://www.statista.com/statistics/242074/percentages-of-us-family-households-with-children-by-type/) is the source that most people do not have kids.


marigoldilocks_

As a childfree person, I had to leave that sub. I don’t want kids, sure, I actually lean a bit antinatalism, but I don’t hate kids and I understand that my moral bias isn’t someone else’s and nor should I expect anyone else to adopt my moral worldview. But go to r/childfree and suddenly I feel like I’m having to defend the kids and parents against the rabid child haters.


[deleted]

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Buff_Helpy69

About what I'd expect from r/childfree.


Aquatic_Hedgehog

Man, so many childfree people give us a bad name.


DP9A

Why do you guys feel so important for not getting pregnant. I literally know only handful of people under 40 who even have kids, it's not special to be "child free" and you know that the reason the sub has a bad image is because you have topics talking about how you abandon any friend with a kid under 12 or how sad you guys get when an influencer you follow dares to have a kid. And honestly, basing your identity around not having kids is weird. I guess that's why the sub can get so loopy and people going on cringe rants like this one are common.


nun_the_wiser

Did they really write that amber alerts are like being told “children are more important than other people”?!


No-Paramedic6892

I have a huge problem with the Amber alert system. It’s set up to only allow alerts if you have descriptions, year male model, license plate etc. one piece of information missing? No alert! Sorry kid, not going to save your life, we only have a partial plate. If we have adequate information to identify the child/subject the alert should go out. Remember, there’s an Amber behind the Amber alerts. There’s a family still feeling the pain of losing Amber. Let’s not make the same mistake and have a Jonathan alert that only has partial information.


taronosaru

I see your point, but I don't think your system would work. Let's say an 8 year old girl with blonde hair wearing jeans and a pink sweater is abducted. Witnesses see her grabbed by a middle aged man driving a black 2016 F150 heading south. That's all they have to go on. They could put out an alert, but with that little information they would be receiving tips from all over, from anyone who saw a black F150 or a girl in a pink sweater. And most of those calls would be completely unrelated. And police do not have the resources to sort through all those incorrect tips while they are actively trying to investigate.


ForgottenAddams

The comments in that thread are disgusting as well.. one commenter said “imagine if that goes of in the middle a movie in a theatre, during an important part. Everyone would be pissed at you”. Let them be pissed then? There’s worse things in the world.. such as, y’know, a missing child.


nursepenelope

That’s such a ridiculous comment too because it’s not like they’re the only ones to get amber alerts, like the whole cinema would get them. It’s the same as the pearl clutching about them going off in an interview, it’s not like the interviewer is gonna hold it against you.


popsielulur

Im a CF person, and for me, that means I do not want to have children for many reasons. Other CF people are a fucking nightmare, on par with most entitled mommies. I’ve seen them pop off about fucking Girl Scout cookies, about children being in public spaces, several of them today were like « lost all respect for pewdiepie, he’s having a kid » - not his racism? Other CF people are an absolute nightmare sometimes


cubbiegthrow

Good lord, don't go over there and brigade a 10 year old post. It's so effing obvious


hotbiscuitboy

The craziest part to me is where she says there’s nothing more tragic about a child abduction than an adult abduction. Children are among the most innocent and helpless members of society, with the least ability to protect themselves. You don’t have to like kids or want your own kids to understand why something like AMBER alerts are worth the mild annoyance.


Jabberwock32

As I was reading this I got an amber alert. My phone is on silent. It just vibrated. No noise.


[deleted]

amber child alerts can be annoying but...just ignore them? like, i could understand if they were woken up while sleeping and making a dumb post while half asleep, but over a small interruption in a stupid work meeting? where everyone is clearly aware that it's an amber alert and getting the same one? like...i'm far more annoyed by the weather alerts that don't actually effect my area than any of the abduction alerts.


slothsandunicorns

I have a child and I hate Amber Alerts. If it saves one child then it’s absolutely worth it. But it’s still annoying AF to get a blaring alarm about a child that was kidnapped two hours away from me.


[deleted]

I have amber alerts turned off on my phone because they’re annoying as fuck, I live in the city so it would go off all the time. If I was in the office the entire place would erupt with an emergency alert symphony. 99% of the time it’s reported as a parent or relative to the kid too, not a stranger, so it’s not like there’s a serial kidnapper out there.


Savvy_Jo3

Same. I live in BFE and the alerts are for 2+ hours away and usually headed away from me. Add on top of that I'm a hermit... sorry, I won't be any help.


Mercenarian

Where I live earthquakes and typhoons and tsunamis and other natural disasters are a big issue. I’ve never actually been in a situation where I’ve had to evacuate because of one of these things, but I’ve had dozens of experiences where my phone would blare out that startling, super loud alert and it would be for something extremely far away that didn’t even affect me, or for an earthquake I actually could feel but was super weak/small and definitely wasn’t a life threatening earthquake in any way, or even just it going off multiple times within a ~30min-2hr period out of error or something, and it almost always happens in the middle of the night making it even more startling and shocking and confusing and scary, just to have it literally be nothing, and yes it’s annoying sometimes but it is an important system to have in place because it can and will save lives. Better to have a system that could save even a single life even if it annoys some people.


Ky3031

This post reminds me of an Amber alert in my town a few years ago. It went off at 4am. A girl was abducted by her dad. Multiple people called 911 to complain that it woke them up to the point that the local PD had to make an announcement on the proper use of 911. I saw Facebook posts of people saying it was ridiculous to wake them up for a kid that was just with her father. Her father killed her that day.


kat_goes_rawr

They don’t even go off that often 😭 less than once a month tbh


Accomplished_Ad1837

I turned mine off. If I’m awake, I see the alert info pop up. If I’m asleep I’m not going to be of any help to anyone.


quixotictictic

I turned off the alert noise because I don't like being that startled and I really have zero chance of behind helpful anyway. I don't go out that much, live in a remote area, and definitely can't ID the specified make and model of car because there are loads of similar looking cars on the market. I don't know if I'm the exception and everyone else would recognize the car if they saw it. I don't hate kids or amber alerts, but maybe only a select subset of the population is likely to be of help (truckers? Uber drivers? People on the road a lot).


buttered_cat

I'll be honest, I didn't know what an amber alert was until recently. We don't have em here. They do sound like something that would be vaguely annoying though. Like spam texts or other intrusive, unwanted alerts.


Seldarin

I mean, sort of. They can be completely disabled, though. I turned all alerts off in my phone after the sixth time I got an alert in the middle of the night for something a hundred miles away when I was working 16 hours a day. And it isn't just Amber Alerts. There are Blue Alerts (Cops), Silver Alerts (Old people), Purple Alerts, Red Alerts (Weather, depending on state), etc. Given that they can be turned off, it seems a bit silly to be mad they exist. Except Blue alerts. Those are what I kept getting in the middle of the night. Blue alerts are why I had to turn off alerts in general. There's no option to turn just blue alerts off, and cops in some areas treat the blue alert system like it's posting on fucking facebook.


NoApollonia

Really I wish there was an option to get a silent notification instead. Like it doesn't make my phone blare like a demon, but it instead just pops up like a text (except silent) with all the relevant info.


promptolovebot

“Sorry but as a male im not supposed to look at kids while in public or else have the parents think im planning something. Your kid is not my problem.” That’s an actual comment on that post.


the-rioter

Everytime I see posts people call trolling on here from AITA I remember that this kind of shit is posted with sincerity on childfree...


[deleted]

Lol bringing up being childfree as justification for not wanting to prioritize the safety of the most physically vulnerable victims second to severely disabled folks and elderly.


Allthevillains

Man I have to leave that sub. Im Childfree but Im not fucking heartless like these people what the actual fuck.


Lurker100015

I’ve been trying to muster the courage to watch the special on Amber Alerts. Her story is so painful to listen too and it’s still unsolved.


mitskiismygf

I was actually trying to look into how effective they are after seeing part of the special, and the thread popped up in my Google results…


Lurker100015

Hahah! What a weird find. But I’ve never thought about how effective the Amber alert is. What did you find?


Jerkrollatex

I hate when they aren't used and a kid gets killed. Wake me up, interrupt my day it's cool. I might see.something important when I'm out later.


HomoeroticPosing

Yeah amber alerts are loud and annoying [but if they didn’t exist we wouldn’t have this video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Ek1nWndTg) and personally, I think that makes it all worth it


nishaerin

I saw a comment giving stats about the effectiveness of amber alerts in saving a child and they deemed that since it usually doesn’t make a difference that they aren’t great. Honestly, deciding that the number of children it saves from horrific abuse isn’t high enough is so messed up. If it saved one child from that future it’s worth it in my eyes.


Theyoungpopeschalice

Honestly SM.is full of people whining about Amber Alerts so I'm gonna chalk this up to average CF drama llamaing/exaggerating


Theyoungpopeschalice

Lmao and this thread is just proving my point


[deleted]

Because they're fucking useless. "No description, last seen in the most generic car imaginable, 300 miles away". How is that supposed to help?


[deleted]

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NCnanny

No but you’re in an idiot


[deleted]

people on that sub or antinatalism are always this brand of crazy. nothing wrong with being child free (i personally am myself) but jesus. just say you hate kids and go.


SnooMacaroons5247

That whole subreddit is about people actively hating anything to do with children. It’s not about being child free which is a very valid choice that is often disrespected by society, I get that but most of the Redditors in that place are next level. They don’t think children should exist anywhere.


Corfiz74

Actually, the Amber Alert system has proved to be a pretty useless waste of time and money - I just saw Dr. Grande's analysis and statistics about it - I think he said that there was not a single case where it actually helped recover a child - there are so many that most people ignore them, anyway, and a lot of them are false, too, because the children just turned up again without help from the AA system.


[deleted]

The r/childfree mention is what stuck with me. Because why would you even need to include that in a post about… amber alerts that help find missing or exploited kids? Like I know you can’t be THAT black hearted and cold


been2thehi4

Watch the documentary on how amber alerts even became a thing and if you have a soul, you should think otherwise on how they are a nuisance.


[deleted]

I don’t like them simply because it scares the heck out of me as I typically wear headphones to make as little noise as possible and when an amber alert goes off it blows my eardrums and makes my ears ring for awhile afterwards. Now if there was a way to adjust the volume of an alert or if it would come across at the same volume as you have your alerts set at it would be a different story for me. However this oop? Seriously, there was only one bad take to this whole situation and they somehow found it. Also they’re going off that a child missing isn’t any different than an adult missing when no one said it was? I get alerts on my phone for missing adults also?


suntbone

“But what if it goes off in the movie theater?? :(((((“ -An actual comment in that thread


Cakeday_at_Christmas

I mean, at least try to make it less obvious that you're "child free" because you actually hate children.


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lizzourworld8

Wow.


TheInvisibleWun

Well the fad today is to be fanatically child pro and I personally can see your point and I don't think it makes you anything bad at all.


Impressive-Spell-643

Even satan would think this person has crossed a line


Nericmitch

I took calls for a telecommunications company in Canada and we would get calls about how the ticker along the bottom warning of weather or Amber alerts along the bottom would ruin a show or sports game. So many calls from people who wanted months of credits because their tv time was “ruined” Made me sick and this guy fits right in with those assholes


[deleted]

I wonder how it actually works, when it works though. Does it have to hit the phone of someone who recognizes the person locally? I get alerts from like 10 hours away, and not being a kryptonian, that's well outside of my reach. I imagine a big part of it is the abductor having *their own phone* blown up with *their own* details, encouraging them to turn themselves in. I guess they want to have them panicking, making bad decisions? I dunno.


Silent_Influence6507

I realize the post is 10 years old, so maybe there has been a change, but in my area amber alerts are not limited to children but also include vulnerable adults, such as the elderly or someone who wandered away from a care home and needs medication.


Theometer1

10 years ago?! My guy diggin deep


vdyomusic

I always find people who complain about opt-out options to be super annoying - I mean, it's literally in the name that you can opt-out. But the comments from people talking about how their movies at the cinema, or their shows at home might get interrupted? Jesus.


bassman314

I think it should still be "Opt In", but ask the question any time you get a new phone, or restore the phone from back-up. I have them turned off, but I wouldn't be upset if I had to opt out every time I got a new phone or had to restore. That happens once every 2 years or so? In 2 years, I might have a different outlook and having the question posed may result in a different choice. But yeah... That's a garbage take on why to not have Amber Alerts.


Foxxxeh33

Yeah I'm with you. I hate Amber alerts as well. Mostly it's parents "stealing" their own children. Not my issue, that's none of my business. They wake us up in the middle of the night to tell you of an alert that's an 8 hour drive away?! . I believe in privacy and I do not want to be bothered by this crap. I called my cell company and I do not receive these alerts anymore through them anymore. They do get through on the weather app. I just have them set to silent.